I look back with nothing but gratitude and respect for all the really interesting people I have been privileged to either meet or work with along the way. All that is happening here is that I'm a little more willing to be open about my life than most ...
Exactly what are you referring to as a 'red herring'? And are you arguing that somehow total global carbon does not matter? That somehow only the emissions from New Zealand are worth discussing?
@Incognito I believe targets based on Carbon footprints/capita are the wrong measurement because it is trivial to achieve if you simply revert to pre-Industrial zero carbon economies and the mass poverty that physics imposes on this. The correct ...
After 7 decades of the US Navy paying for everyone else shipping security - I think a lot of nations are going to soon discover the price of what they've been taking so blissfully (and often resentfully) for granted.
Good analysis. And alongside the ICT sector is a thriving world class OT (Operations Tech) sector as well. These are the guys doing what most people think of as Industrial Automation and NZ has been doing well enough at it since sometime in the 80's. ...
Agreed. Direct hydrogen conversion is the path forward for steel. A lot of work is going on in Australia to produce enough clean hydrogen to support this.
Yes. The entire climate change debate hinges around whether the developing world chooses coal or nuclear to power it's future. That is pretty much all that matters - everything else is a nice to have.
More or less yes. But total cessation of what?
Yup. That's an example of Jevon's Paradox. While any engineer is going to chase improved efficiency, there in any given system there is a limit to how much this can be improved. Basic thermodynamics enforces this. We will always consume energy, and at some...
A welcome step in the right direction and well done to everyone who got this over the line. Now we just have to convince the rest of the world to follow suit; because carbon atoms do not have a little label on them saying "Made in New Zealand".
I understand what you are saying. People wrongly imagine it would be a good thing to be able to see the future - even in dark glimpses. It is not. As someone well used to reading maps it is not hard to foresee the dangerous terrain we are heading into.
Agreed. The key point is if govts are going to engage with the economy more, this focusses us on what is important. For the most part I do not want the govt running corner dairies, but I do want it setting employment, environmental and safety standards. ...
Redlogic argues that it's not the government's job to see that the economy thrives. Fair enough I was probably being too concise for clarity there. I would say that it is the govt's job to create the conditions in which the economy can thrive. - ...
infinite growth in a finite world. If only I had a dollar for every time I've seen that flogged to death meme used as an excuse for actual thought.
In 2016 NZSteel sought protection from the government for Chinese steel-dumping practices here. That has been a problem everywhere. Around that time I was working on a project that needed about 200 process skid frames - think a steel fabrication about 2m ...
Excellent OP as always Ad. I am consistently impressed at the thought you out into these essays. My take is that a functioning society requires a balance between three way balance between the state, markets and individuals. The role of the state is to ...
You are 100% correct. Unfortunately the people you are responding to have zero interest in learning anything. Their motives come from a different place.
For what it's worth in 1983 I spent 10 weeks on HMNZS Tui with an oceanographic team plotting out parts of the Southern Ocean segment of this astonishing current. Not a lot was known about it then, and still most people have no idea just how much energy it...
Karpman Drama Triangle explained.
You should have moved on from the 70's by now ...
Two thoughts - the tragedy of the commons, the over-exploitation of resources has been a common thread for at least the past 10,000 years. The environmental sins you point to are real and in some cases urgent. Yet the lesson to be learned from history is ...
Having just moved from Brissy to Perth this year - Brissy is even better. Not saying perfect - they have a housing crisis as bad as NZ. Plenty of fuckwits and plonkers in politics here too. But they believe in themselves in a way New Zealand has lost.
All good points and I especially agree on the lack of alternative investment pathways. Kiwis of my generation did property because anything else was a a high risk path to bankruptcy. Personally I would have loved to have had a super scheme like Australia, ...
Mediocre is the word you are looking for. We are not getting shit done.
I get it - $1400 pa or $7000 pa for a family household is not nothing. Few people would leave that much cash lying on the table. But I want a New Zealand that does way better than this.
Neo-liberalism is what you get when you think that just because some problems are well served by markets - that all problems must be equally amenable to the same solution. And that because modelling humans as rational economic actors is useful when ...
If you think $1400 pa is going to solve your problems ... Ad is correct it wouldn't even buy you a $5 flat white each day for a year.
I could name a certain provincial tramping club - with the exact real-life names and personas to match. Easy enough to take the piss out of them, yet it's these people who've faithfully kept it all going for decades.
This is exactly the conversation I'm having on another thread right now - only you have expressed it far more incisively. The old - growing the pie, vs cutting it up problem. New Zealand has a bit of both problems, we're not making our pie big enough and ...
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" Straight from the marxist canon, and like so many bad ideas it has a seductively simplicity to it. If only the world was a rainbow hue utopia the condition it aspires to might ...
It is an interesting line of thought. But a lot hinges on exactly what kind of deal Xi Xinping could broker. It's apparent Ukraine is not in the mood to compromise, nor does it look like they should for the moment. The critical moment that can be foreseen ...
Cats, with their independent spirit and beguiling purrs, have captured the hearts of humans for millennia. In New Zealand, felines are no exception, boasting the highest national cat ownership rate globally [definition cat nz cat foundation]. An estimated 1.134 million pet cats grace Kiwi households, compared to 683,000 dogs ...
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